Emergency Residential Program

NYAWC's two emergency residences are more than shelters. With their homelike surroundings and supportive staff, Rose House and Peace House offer solace and comfort to survivors of domestic and sexual violence and their children who have left the abusive environment they once called home. Both of our houses offer shared and private spaces where survivors and their families develop their own individualized healing journey. Our staff in the Houses prioritizes individual and collective comfort and is able to make various, religious, cultural and physical accommodation when a survivor voices these preferences.

Rose House and Peace House are the only ones licensed by New York State that are culturally and language equipped to serve pan-Asian survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Together, they have 40 beds and offer the following services in many Asian languages and dialects:

24/7 multi-lingual staff trained in domestic violence issues Vocational program for career planning and help with securing education and employment Counseling and case management services Support groups Child care and children's services Computers with Internet access Laundry facilities in-house Call our hotline at 1-888-888-7702 to find out more about our residences. We speak 18+ Asian languages and dialects, and Spanish.
	Click here for more pictures.
Peace House, which opened its doors in 2009, is NYAWC's second residence, set in its own large plot of land and has 20 bedrooms.	Rose House, our first owned residence, began providing refuge to survivors in 2004. The 10-bedroom brownstone houses up to 20 residents.

In 2015, we provided refuge to 70 adults, including one man, and 55 of their children in our Houses. Their stay ranges from 3 days to 21 months and averaged 5 months.

Transitional Housing

In New York City, domestic violence survivors can stay in an emergency shelter for 90 days, with a possibility of extensions for up to 6 months for those who may need additional time to find safe, affordable housing and settle into their new lives. Our transitional housing program, Transitional Housing, provides rent subsidies to families for 2 years after they leave our residences.  We offer culturally appropriate and in-language support service to help survivors recover from trauma, meet their career goals, secure jobs, and connect with their community.

Hear From Our Staff

Alena Victor, Director of Residential Programs:

Transitional Housing is an opportunity to provide extended housing and support services to residents for 6 to 24 months after their shelter stay. This program allows the residents to work slowly towards self-sufficiency, as the program provides partial rent subsidy payments to landlords. The remaining rent payments are provided by the participant. The increments of participant payment of rent gradually increases every six months, allowing the participant and opportunity to plan out long term goals with regards to obtaining permanent housing. This slow increase in participants’ rental payments, allows the participants to plan out their finances and develop long terms sustainable goals to manage their income and savings in order to pay the entire rental payments eventually. The program also works with the participant, providing support services that are inclusive of housing advocacy, budgeting and finance planning, vocational counseling, employment retention support as well as general counseling. The goal of the program is to gradually increase the participant's ability to sustain an apartment financially as well as manage their family's lives in a sustainable way.

Shan Huang, Resident Manager:

How are Rose House and Peace House unique from other shelters?

Our houses are not just shelters. We are functioning to 1) ensure ongoing safety and security for all survivors as they reside within our houses; 2) build an internal community which fosters recovery; and 3) support the survivors in the development of self-sufficiency and independence.

What can survivors expect at NYAWC’s emergency residences?

1. We maintain our fire alarms, surveillance cameras, door and window sensors in good order, and we are always developing our security system at houses. Residents can expect that their stay with us is a safe one.
2. Many recreational activities take place in our houses, such as a knitting group, support group, Zumba and yoga classes, and Friday movie night. By participating in these groups and events, survivors can expect to promote the wellness activities and interventions in healing trauma and self-care.
3. Residents can also expect to develop their hard and soft skills to achieve their financial independence while staying with us. In the past, we have offered different workshops to survivors at both houses. Survivors were taught vocational and entrepreneurial skills in sewing, jewelry making, and crafts. Survivors were also reported increases in financial planning behavior, and were able to develop their soft skills that aligned with their vocational aspirations after attending those workshops.  

Describe a typical day or week at the residences for survivors.

In a typical week, a resident may have a counseling session with their counselor on Monday morning and a Public Assistance appointment in the afternoon. Given her immigration needs, the resident may be referred to the legal clinic on Thursday. In between these meetings and appointments, the resident may be working to find a childcare provider for her daughter and working on updating her resume to find jobs. She may watch movies on a Friday night and learn knitting from our staff. Every single day, our residential staff is supporting her in parenting, cooking, time management, and other life skills.

What do survivors get out of staying at the residences?

Our residential program makes every effort to make sure survivors' stay with us is a safe, healthy, and respectful one. The safety and well-being of all our residents is our priority. We work with survivors to assess needs and set goals with a focus on the long-term concerns of housing, employment, self-sufficiency, and trauma recovery. Our house is not a permanent solution, but a pathway for survivors to move ahead positively.

Are you or someone you know in need of emergency residence?
Call NYAWC's toll-free, 24/7, multilingual hotline at 1-888-888-7702.

We speak 18+ Asian languages and dialects, including:
Bengali
Cantonese
Hindi
Japanese
Korean
Mandarin
Tagalog
Urdu